Recommendations for the foreign educational institutions

There are following levels of the general education in Russian Federation:

• Pre-school education
• Primary general education
• Basic general (lower secondary) education
• Secondary general (upper secondary) education

Only primary general, basic general (lower secondary) and secondary general (upper secondary) educational programs are subject to state accreditation.

How to prepare for the state accreditation on the basic educational programs of primary, basic and secondary education

The following conditions must be checked before applying for the state accreditation:

• Basic education program in place
• Availability of students
• Proper staffing, logistical and financial environment to support basic educational programs

The primary and basic educational programs are implemented according to the Federal State Educational Standards (FSES).

The secondary educational program could be implemented in accordance with both FSES and the federal component of the state educational standard of the secondary education.

The basic educational program should be developed and endorsed for the whole educational period with the curriculum included (individual learning plans when the condensed course is used (if any)), calendar academic schedule, work programs, courses, disciplines (modules), evaluation and methodology materials and other components.

The learning package on all academic subjects and courses of basic educational program supports the educational process. 

Basic educational program should be fully equipped with pedagogical, managerial and supplementary staff members. The qualification level of the educational staff matches the level of every particular position requirements.

While preparing for the state accreditation, the education institutions are supposed to use the results of the public accreditation and outcomes of internal quality of education monitoring.

Procedure for state accreditation of educational activities

The Article 92 of the Federal Law №273 –FZ dated 29.12.2012 “About education in Russian Federation” and provision on state accreditation approved by the Decree №1039 dated 18.11.2013 of the Government of Russian Federation “About state accreditation of the educational activity” are regulating the accreditation procedure.

The state accreditation is conducted based on the results of the accreditation assessment which is called to confirm the education institution`s compliance of content and quality of education for students versus the declared federal state educational standards.

There are certain steps to conduct the state accreditation:

Step 1. Completion of application form for the state accreditation of educational activity

Step 2. Preparation of documents to be attached to the application form

Step 3. Submission of the documents set to the accreditation body

Step 4. Implementation of the state accreditation

Step 5. State accreditation certificate is issued

How to complete the application form

The educational institutions submit the completed application forms for state accreditation. The sample is brought in the Attachment 1 for the decree #193 dated 18.03.2014 of the Federal Ministry of education and science “About approval of the application form for the state accreditation, issue of the temporary certificate, renewal of the certificate and duplicating (temporary certificate)”

The application form contains the following information:

• The name of the accreditation body the educational institution (EI) is applying to
• Full name of the EI and the abbreviation (if any)
• Legal address of HEI (state registration address)
• Basic state registration number

In the application form (made in table format) one has to provide the list of basic educational programs declared for the state accreditation bearing in mind the relevant level of education. Additionally, the following information needs to be submitted:

• Official phone (fax) number
• E-mail address
• Web-site address

In the application form there should be a clause regarding the need for the applicant organization or its branch to be informed by e-mail on the accreditation procedure progress.

• Completion date of the application form

The head of organization, with position and full name (name, family name, surname (if any)), signs and stamps the form.

How to prepare a set of documents attached for the state accreditation of educational activity

The application form is accompanied with:

• State registration certificate (copy) of educational institution according to the foreign country legislation (for the foreign educational organizations )
• Power of attorney or other document issued by the EI to confirm the person’s authorization to submit the application form and attached documents on behalf of the applying institution
• Information on the implementation of the educational programs declared for the state accreditation. Ministry of Education and Science has approved the relevant forms according to the Annex 1 of MoES’s Order №667 dated 06.07.2015 “Approval of information form declared for the state accreditation of the educational activities”.

The information is filled in for every basic educational program given the mode of education.

• Copy of agreement for the network implementation of educational programs (if any), signed in accordance with the Article 15 of the Federal Law №273-FZ dated 29.12.2012 “About education in Russian Federation”. If the copy is not notarized, the original document has to be presented. In addition, they attach jointly developed and approved educational programs.
• Information on presence or absence of the public accreditation in the national, foreign or international organization
• The receipt to confirm the payment of relevant state fee

The applicant is supposed to pay a state duty for the accreditation. The paragraph 127 sub-paragraph 1 of Article 333.33 of the Tax Code of Russian Federation stipulates the size of the duty for basic educational programs of primary, lower secondary and upper secondary as 15,000 RUR.

• Inventory of the submitted documents, signed and stamped in due manner by the educational institution.

The attached documents in foreign language should be accompanied with the Russian notary translation.

Submission of documents for state accreditation of educational activities to the accreditation body

The application for state accreditation and attached documents are submitted to the accreditation body in hard copies. The organization's representative may submit them directly to the accreditation body. In addition, the application and documents can also be sent by registered mail with notification and list of contents.

It is also possible to submit the application and attached documents to the accreditation body in the form of electronic documents being signed by the electronic signature using the Internet, including through the unified portal of public and municipal services (www.gosuslugi.ru).

How to conduct the accreditation examination of educational activities

When the educational institution is located abroad, the Accreditation Body can appoint the accreditation expertise without visiting the educational organization outside the territory of the Russian Federation.

 The accreditation body requests the educational organization to submit the documents and materials according to the list.

During the examination of the documents and materials requested by the accreditation body, the educational institution submits the documents for a period corresponding to the term of education in the educational program. While in relation to the educational programs for which there are no students, who accomplish their education in the current academic year, the requested documents and materials are provided for the period of implementation of the educational program.

An indicative list of documents and materials required for the accreditation expertise of the basic general education programs in educational institutions conducted in accordance with the federal state educational standards

1. The educational program developed and approved for the whole period of education, including curriculum (individual learning plans, including accelerated training (if any)), calendar learning schedule, work programs for subjects, courses, disciplines (modules) , evaluation and methodological materials, as well as other components.
2. Learning schedule
3. Individual achievement record for students learning the educational programs provided according to the local regulations of the educational organization (registers for compulsory, extra-curricular and optional subjects)
4. The results of the state final certification of graduates (over the last three years for basic educational programs of lower secondary and upper secondary education, subject to availability).
5. Local regulations on major issues of the organization and implementation of educational activities, including those regulating:

- Lesson schedule of students

- The procedure for ongoing monitoring of progress and interim assessment of students, their format and frequency; individual record of the students’ achievements through learning of educational programs; archiving of achievements in hard copies and (or) electronic media;

- The learning procedure on an individual curriculum, including accelerated learning within mastered general educational programs;

- The procedure for  the educational development of the organization results of studying academic subjects, courses, disciplines (modules), additional educational programs in other organizations engaged in educational activities;

- The functioning of the internal quality assessment system of education;

- “No marks” (“bezotmetochnoe”) learning and assessment system (for programs of primary general education);

- State final examination, culminating learning of the basic educational programs of lower and upper secondary education

6. Staffing information, information about the level of professional education of teachers and the general pedagogical work record, copies of employment agreements (contracts) with the teaching staff, graduation diplomas and (or) the qualification supporting documents.
7. Documents confirming the existence in the library collection of textbooks and teaching aids, complying with the relevant federal list of textbooks recommended for use in state-accredited educational programs of primary general, basic general, secondary education institutions engaged in educational activities. The list of textbooks should be in accordance with the Order by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated March 31, 2014 № 253 "About approved list of textbooks recommended for use for the state-accredited educational programs of primary general, basic general and secondary education."
8. Documents confirming the availability of premises (offices) and equipment necessary for the regular and extracurricular activities of students;
9. Constituent documents of the educational organization, the provision of the branch (during the accreditation review in the branch) of educational organization;
10. Agreements on the network implementation of educational programs (subject to availability of educational programs, implemented with the use of network forms of education);
11. Documents confirming the public accreditation in Russian, foreign and international organizations (if any);
12. Agreements on education;
13. Regulatory acts:

- The admission of persons to study at an educational organization or for the passage of intermediate certification and (or) the state final examination;

- The dismissal of students from the educational organization.

To establish the conformity of the content and quality of education for students of educational organizations declared for state accreditation of educational programs according to federal state educational standards are the following data:

- The results of administrative control tests on the Russian language, Mathematics, Literature reading in the framework of internal quality control for the basic educational program of primary education in Grade IV. In the absence of Grade IV the results for the period of implementation of the educational program are considered;

- The results of administrative examinations as part of school internal quality control for each domain of the basic educational program in Grade IX. In the absence of Grade IX the results for the period of implementation of the educational program are assessed;

- The results of administrative examinations as part of internal school quality control for each domain (base and profile levels) of the basic educational program of secondary education in Grade XI. In the absence of Grade XI, the results of students in Grade X are considered.

How to obtain a certificate of state accreditation for educational activities

The accreditation body shall conclude on the state accreditation of educational activities in a period not exceeding 105 days from the date of receiving an application and attached documents (if application and documents meet the requirements).

The decision on the state accreditation is drawn up as an administrative act of the accreditation body. Before the accreditation body makes up a decision, the organization has the right to withdraw the application for state accreditation at any stage of its processing.

With a positive decision on the state accreditation of educational organization, a certificate of state accreditation for a period of 12 years in respect of the declared basic educational programs is granted.